page_title: Watch the Throne Tour
section_title: Reception
hierarchical_section_title: Watch the Throne Tour / Reception
caption_attribution_description: Jay-Z and Kanye West performing in Greensboro, North Carolina on their Watch the Throne Tour, 2011.
context_page_description: The Watch The Throne Tour was a co-headlining concert tour by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West that began on October 28, 2011 in Atlanta and continued until June 22, 2012 with its final show scheduled in Birmingham. Originally scheduled for 23 performances, the tour was expanded to 34 performances in North America due to heavy demand for tickets; 29 shows were confirmed in the United States with 5 shows in Canada. Following massive success in the United States and Canada, Jay-Z & Kanye West announced the European leg of the tour on February 21, 2012 which featured 23 performances, bringing the number of shows to 57 at the time.
  Following the Glow in the Dark Tour, it marks West's first concert tour after four years, excluding his ultimately cancelled tour, Fame Kills with Lady Gaga. It follows Jay-Z's opening act for U2 at the U2 360° Tour and his The Home & Home Tour with Eminem. The concert, which has no opening act of its own, is in support of West and Jay-Z's 2011 album, Watch the Throne, with most of the album's track-list performed, such as singles "Otis", "Lift Off", "Niggas in Paris" and concert opener "H•A•M".
context_section_description: Critical reception towards the tour was positive. MTV News gave the opening show a good review, writing "While the WTT album has been noted for its opulent displays of wealth, Hov and Yeezy's show will be marked by the duo's overabundance of hit records." USA Today praised the duo's ability to get the audience excited, stating "at one point, as Jay-Z and West performed Niggas in Paris from their new hit CD, "Watch the Throne", West exhorted the audience to "Bounce! Bounce!" The resulting stomping had Philips Arena rocking and shaking in a way that it hasn't for the Hawks in a long time." Rap-Up mused "it was a crowning moment for Jay-Z and Kanye West as they kicked off the Watch the Throne tour to a packed house at Philips Arena in Atlanta on Friday night. The hip-hop kings, collectively known as The Throne, opened the most anticipated hip-hop tour of the year with a bang." Idolator stated that the tour featured "an epic set list that featured selections from each artist's own behemoth catalog of hits as well as their Watch The Throne collaborations." The tour has grossed $48.3 million so far by the end of 2011, making it the highest grossing hip-hop tour and the eighth highest-grossing tour of 2011. In 2017,  Rolling Stone listed it in its list of "The 50 Greatest Concerts of the Last 50 Years". In 2019, Consequence of Sound named it the third best tour of the 2010s.
  In s 2011 interview with Rolling Stone, comedian Chris Rock said;
  "This might be the greatest show I ever saw. It's the equivalent of the Billy Joel-Elton John tour, but if they did it in 1979, when the songs were hot!"
caption: West and Jay-Z on in Greensboro, North Carolina.
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